Set in Stone
by bbqsaucelover
Summary: Soulmates are not set in stone. Tessa taught Bro that valuable and life-changing lesson as she parked herself on his doorstep one day and refused to budge. A soulmate tattoo AU; Bro is Dirk in this AU.


I am only a narrator. These accounts are first-hand accounts from Dirk, Dave, and Tessa respectively, now written and edited in the third person. I have recorded them to the best of my ability. Some parts may be incomplete and I am not responsible for any omissions or mistakes that have been made in these documents.

[Enter: Dirk] Dirk Strider is a 30 year old man. He has blond hair that is gelled in the back and narrow orange eyes along with angular features that make him look slightly cruel and menacing; he is never seen without his hat, trusty aviator sunglasses, and most importantly Lil' Cal, a puppet he had possessed for as long he can remember. Dirk is average height, has sun-kissed skin along with a little stubble on his chin, and wears a white polo T-shirt along with jeans and bowler shoes that have a white stripe and black buttons running down its sides. He spends his days filming pornography and runs a fairly well-known website that he features his videos on, working to become the master of irony as well as a sex icon. He is guardian to Dave Strider and is referred to as 'Bro' by Dave.

Dirk yawned and reached blindly for the remote with the impressive speed of a sloth-snail hybrid. There weren't any good shows on during the early hours of the morning, shows that he would at least be able to tolerate, and he was bored out of his mind. He wanted to go wake Dave, maybe shove the plush rumps of one or two Smuppets in his face while he was at it, so that Dave would wake up and make some breakfast for him. This was because Dirk's stomach was growling like the fires deep within Satan's hell-pit (of course, he didn't know whether or not that was accurate, it was merely an analogy), but he was too lazy to depart from the comfort of the couch and Lil' Cal, who was perched like a parrot on his shoulder.

Oh. A prick pierced him internally and made him cringe slightly, just barely holding back a particularly colorful swear word that he did not want Dave to hear or use. He was forgetting something. Instinctively, Dirk glanced down at his wrist, where a tiny black heart was imprinted against his skin and numbers, small as a needle but somehow still readable, counted down the time until he would meet his soulmate.

As far as he knew, people were born with a tattoo that was unique to them and their future soulmate. So if two people had matching tattoos and the time under them had reached zero, they were destined to be soulmates. That was how dating worked in this world, where couples were formed not by chance, but by fate, by destiny, whatever you wanted to call it. It was set in stone since the day he or she was born.

Dirk's brow furrowed and his lungs seemed to stop working because at that moment, his eyes were fixed on the countdown on his wrist, the countdown that had ceased once the numbers had slowly slipped to zero. It turns out that Dirk was going to meet his soulmate, the woman of his dreams, the woman that he would spend the rest of his life with, today.

And right at that moment, standing five feet below Dirk's apartment, was a woman who had a hand up to her eyes to shield them against the sun, studying the building with rapture. Last night, she had been fed with an anonymous tip that someone in this building, someone who lived with his little brother, was an abusive guardian who constantly fought against him with a sword, even to the point of wounding him. She had decided to investigate, fueled by a quest to prove herself to her superiors, who she could tell were losing interest and faith in her. Sure, she already had a bad reputation from the continuous failures of all the other cases she was tasked with, but maybe she could redeem herself with this one. It sounded interesting enough, at least as far as she could tell from the information the anonymous gentlemen had provided.

"What." Dirk said lowly, bristling as he fought the urge to sock old man Martin right then and there.

It was phrased as a statement and not a question that people normally would have asked. Old man Martin cowered and took a step back from the doorway, holding up his hands in an attempt for a placating gesture as his gray mustache quivered with fear. "P-please, Dirk. I want what's best-"

"Don't call me that." Dirk said flatly.

"S-sorry. I-I just want what's best for you and Dave. That little kid deserves much better."

Dirk took a threatening step forward, eliciting a squeak from old man Martin. "You don't get to tell me how to raise my kid, old man. I raise him how I want. End of discussion."

[Enter: Tessa] Tessa Anes in a 28 year old woman. She has shoulder-length, slightly wavy auburn hair that is so thick that she leaves it down and wide hazel eyes. She has a heart-shaped face and plain features along with pale skin that never seems to tan and is complete with some blemishes that she covers up using makeup. Tessa is petite and tends to be on the short side; she likes wearing various floral blouses and capris along with either her trusty flats or sneakers. She spends her day working as a social worker who is still rising in rank, cooking, and going on various "adventures." She is the daughter of Robert and Janny Anes as well as Dirk and Dave's future social worker.

Old man Martin said nothing, but his eyes darted toward the staircase as another squeak escaped from his lips, this time being a squeak of relief instead of fear. Dirk raised an eyebrow and followed his gaze to a woman standing near the stairwell, regarding the scene with faint amusement. She was dressed in a floral blouse and tan capris, along with worn-out looking black flats and a sunhat that was hanging haphazardly off to one side of her head; Dirk could tell from the way that she held herself that she was a social worker. He had met plenty of those back in his day, enough that he could recognize them on sight, pretending to be as innocent as butterflies and then digging into you mercilessly like the piranhas that they are. So he had always been wary of them and made sure that they couldn't trace him back to his apartment, but thanks to old man Martin, this one had.

Dirk kept his eyes on the woman and she on him, her smile widening into a genuine grin as she stepped forward and put a calming hand on old man Martin's shoulder.

"Thank you for the tip." She said, her voice sounding like the babble of a stream-calm, yet filled with energy, "you can go now."

Old man Martin relaxed visibly and wiped away the perspiration that had sprouted over his forehead as he glanced at Dirk one last time before scurrying back into the dark recesses of his apartment. Dirk cursed silently at him and swore that he would enact pay back someday, just not now, because there were bigger and more pressing issues to deal with, like the social worker standing in front of him.

There was a short, tension-filled silence, complete with the woman giving Dirk an once over and him giving her a cold stare, before she held out her hand to him and spoke again, "Hello. My name is Tessa Anes."

"Bro Strider." He responded gruffly, purposefully not giving her his real name so that she couldn't have that power over him.

He did not take her hand.

Dirk tried not to fidget, to remain emotionless, passive, and aloof, as Tessa scanned the first room of his modest two-room apartment, tapping her finger against her chin and making a quiet "hmmm" sound. Her face was expressionless, save for the slight crease on her forehead, but he could detect the hint of distaste in her eyes, hidden behind the wall of worry that had appeared when she had first entered. For the life of him, he could not believe that this woman, Tessa or whatever she was called, could potentially be his soulmate. Ever since Dirk had adopted Dave, he had spent most of his life avoiding confrontations with the people he dreaded most, social workers. Now, he was faced with the potential of one becoming his soulmate. Either this was a cruel and ironic twist of fate or he was dreaming. Dirk pinched himself just to be sure and winced. Nope, it was a cruel and ironic twist of fate.

"If I may ask, how old is your….son?" Tessa asked, breaking the silence.

"Ten." Dirk replied as he lounged on the couch, drilling holes into her back with his eyes as she opened and refrigerator, sharply inhaled, and shut it quickly. "Shit, woman. I didn't give you permission to poke around."

Tessa turned and crossed her arms, "I don't require your permission to conduct a search of your house. Also, you do know fridges are for food, right?" She snapped back.

"Ouch. I'm so fucking wounded." He placed a hand over his heart and pretended to faint, sinking down on the couch a few inches.

She ignored him. "Where do you even keep your food?"

Dirk regained his position on the couch and shrugged. He had decided to not say anything else in response to her questions. The less the enemy knew, the better. Besides, maybe if he kept at it for long enough, she would get annoyed and leave.

"And why are there puppets scattered everywhere? They remind me of sex toys." She continued, holding an orange one by its leg with two fingers that she had picked up by the heater with her nose crinkled in disgust. Then her eyes flashed and she exclaimed, "that's because they are sex toys, aren't they?!"

Once again, Dirk shrugged.

"Where's Dave? I would like to talk to him."

THAT got his attention. "What do you fucking want with him?"

"I just want to talk to him."

"Over my dead bo-"

[Enter: Dave] Dave Strider is a 10 year old boy. He has short, fluffy blond hair and narrow red eyes. He has a slightly round face along with milky skin and his trusty shades that he is never seen without. Dave is tall and wears a white shirt with red sleeves that has a scratched disk imprinted on it along with jeans and high-top sneakers. He spends his day writing ingenious raps, pounding out beats on his beloved turntables, and gaming. Dirk is his guardian, who he refers to as 'Bro'.

At that moment, Dave's door creaked opened and he poked his head out, his light, almost white blonde hair disheveled and his voice thick with sleep, "Bro, what's the fuck is going on out here?"

"No-" Dirk snapped, but stopped himself.

Tessa was persistent and she wouldn't stop unless she could see that everything was normal in the Strider household. Since annoying her obviously wasn't working, he was left with no choice but to treat Dave with civility and parental love. Dirk shuddered just thinking about it, but if he wanted the social worker out of his hair, he would have to behave himself and act like a proper adult.

"Dave!" Dirk said in his best fake cheery voice, cursing silently when it came out slightly squeaky and cracked midway through that one simple word, "Come and meet Tessa!"

Dave raised an eyebrow at his bro, immediately sensing that something was off (and why was he grinning like that?) but decided not to question it for fear of the consequences that his bro would enact later. So he slowly emerged from his room, running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to at least make it semi-presentable, and smoothed down his boxers-oh wait-crap, he had forgotten to put a shirt and some pants on. And his shades, oh motherfucking god, he felt naked without them. But it was too late now because he had caught sight of a woman standing near the fridge with a orange Smuppet clutched tightly in her grasp and her eyes trained on his. Dave guessed that she must be the Tessa his bro wanted him to meet.

The woman smiled and Dave felt his face burn involuntarily because man she had a pretty smile and here he was standing outside his room in his boxers and half naked. Way to aim for a good first impression.

"Hi," he said shyly, then cleared his throat, purposefully pitching his voice lower, "I'm Dave."

"So this is him. It's nice to meet you, Dave. I'm Tessa Anes." Tessa replied, her eyes crinkling slightly at the edges as she spoke.

Dave immediately decided that he liked her, but he noticed that her piercing gaze was somewhat abnormal as he watched her eyes constantly flicker to different parts of his body and settle for a fleeting moment before moving on. Her gaze never seemed to rest. Oh, boy. He realized with a start that this woman must be a social worker.

The floor began to yawn at his feet and he felt his face drain of blood as he glanced at his bro, who was still on the couch in the same position, eerily silent. Boy, oh boy.

Dave's mouth suddenly felt dry and he had difficulty getting his next words out. "Uh, you too. Tessa."

Tessa's mouth straightened into a grim line at his reaction. There was definitely something wrong here; she could see and feel it from the inexplicable fear in Dave's eyes, fear that only appeared when he glanced at 'Bro', no matter how hard he tried to hide it. The inkling of doubt she had held about this family dissipated into thin air and she scolded herself for not acting faster. She should have known from the moment that she stepped foot into 'Bro's' apartment and saw the scattered katanas and puppets that this family was trouble.

Tessa chanced a quick look at 'Bro', who as far as she could tell was just sulking on the couch, before she turned her attention back to Dave and asked in as a gentle voice as she could manage, careful not to spook him like one takes care not to spook a wounded animal, "May I talk to you for a few minutes? We can talk in your room if you don't feel comfortable in the presence of your guardian. Or perhaps you would like to talk outside? Any place is fine with me."

"Uh…."

Once again, she saw Dave glance at 'Bro', hesitation evident in every ounce of his being, and saw 'Bro' give him a small nod and a smile in response, a smile that looked terrible and resulted in more of a grimace rather than anything that remotely resembled a genuine smile. Without a word, Tessa walked over to Dave in long strides and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder before she gently pushed him back into his room and closed the door behind them with a solid thud.

Silence blanketed the room as Tessa sat cross-legged on the floor and gazed steadily up at Dave, who was slouched in a chair in front of her with his arms crossed and his expression frozen. She was getting worried. They had been at it for more than an hour now and she had nothing. No information, no sense of what was going on, and no way to help, leaving her with nothing but a frustrating sense of helplessness. She could sense that Dave was trying his hardest to hide something from her, a matter that probably had to do with his 'Bro', but no matter how much she coaxed and chided, he refused to speak to her about it. His silence wasn't normal and she felt her heart grow heavy with every passing moment while simultaneously sporting a rumbling anger. What had 'Bro' done to Dave to make him this way, a person that was a little better than an unfeeling statue?

"I assure you, there's nothing to be afraid of, Dave." She said once again, "I'm sincerely trying to help you and the more you can tell me about your guardian, the more I can do. Please. I know you're afraid of him, but I'm here for just that. I just need to know what I'm up against so I know how to properly deal with it."

But Dave only shifted uncomfortably in his chair in response and let out a shaky breath. It made Tessa's heart bleed to see how uncomfortable he was in regards to this talk. She knew it wasn't her who was making him like this, but she wished he would let her in so that she could help him toward a better and healthier path. She wanted to wipe away the perspiration that had sprouted on his forehead, stroke his clammy skin reassuringly, and engulf him a tight hug, but she didn't know how he would react to that. So instead, Tessa looked around his room and commented on the first thing her eyes settled on, which were his turntables and the expensive-looking headphones that were lying next to them. "I must say, those are some cool turntables."

Dave's mouth tipped up a little, "Yeah?"

Tessa nodded and chuckled awkwardly, "You know, my brother was really into rap. He tried to teach me how to operate these turntables, but I was absolutely horrible at it." She smiled inwardly as she watched some of Dave's uncomfortableness visibly melt off of him and continued, "perhaps you could show me a few…..what are they called?"

"Beats?"

"Yes, beats."

"Well, if you insist."

Tessa's heart rose with hope as Dave got up and reached for his turntables, his eyes brightening just from touching them ever so gently with his fingertips, and transferred them to his lap. She straightened up from the floor, stretching out her legs that had long since fallen asleep, and leaned toward him, sharing the excitement that was now rolling off of him in waves, quickly drowning out the previous tension in the room. She silently admired the turntables as Dave explained the different parts to her, touching each individual part gently as he explained them. Even though they were scratched up and looked quite worn from age and use, she thought that that was what made them so beautiful.

Just as Tessa opened her mouth to ask if she could perhaps try it out for the feel of it, the door flew open. She didn't even have to turn around to see who it was. She already knew from the way Dave suddenly stiffened and dropped his hand from the turntables as his initial excitement quickly evaporated from him, leaving nothing but a lifelessness to his hand and a rigid tension in his body, who had just entered and intruded into the peace that Tessa had worked so hard to gain with Dave.

Sure enough, Dirk was standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets, his face unreadable and his eyes hidden behind his large, aviator sunglasses. He stood there innocently, quietly, which coincidentally made the initial rumble of anger in Tessa's chest erupt into a full-fledged fire.

She turned toward him angrily with her eyes flashing, fighting to keep her voice calm and steady so as to not betray any aspect of her emotion, "Bro, leave. I'm not quite finished talking with Dave yet."

Dirk chuckled lowly in amusement, but Tessa could hear the undercurrent of a threat in his words, "Yeah, you fucking are."

At the tone of his words, a drop of fear fought its way into her heart, making her want to skitter out of Dave's room and never come back to this secretive and potentially dark household, but she took a deep breath, burying the drop deep within herself and vowing to never let it resurface, even for a moment. Even though 'Bro' could easily kill her with his muscular arms if he wanted to, even though he scared the hell out of her, even though if she died here it would be quite an uneventful and sad death, it only took a split moment to decide that she wanted to stay. Tessa was determined to see this particular assignment through, not only because she wanted to get back on her feet in terms of social work, but also because she had grown fond of Dave in the short time she had known him. She wanted to do this, to stay, especially for him, because he was a good kid and deserved better.

"Tessa, you better go." Dave muttered to her, pitching his voice so that only she could hear him.

Tessa straightened herself to her full height, an amazing five feet exactly, and glared at 'Bro', setting her jaw in determination and ignoring Dave's warning. "No, I'm not. I'm not leaving, Bro. And if you try to forcibly remove me, I will not hesitate to call the police. I have them on speed-dial right here." She was bluffing about that part, but she put as much conviction as she could behind her voice and from the way Dirk's eyebrows slightly furrowed together at her words, she could tell that he believed her. "I'm sure you don't want that. So I suggest you cooperate with me." An idea formed in her head as she spoke, "so this is what we're going to do. I'm going to move in."

Dirk opened his mouth to protest and Dave smirked, the only indication being the slight curve upward of his mouth. For 'Bro' to be at a loss for words and for Dave to support her in his own tacit way made Tessa feel stronger and braver. As a result, her voice, which was still wavering slightly as she had began to address 'Bro', grew stronger and more confident, filling the room with its impact. "I'm going to go back to my apartment real quick and collect my stuff. I'll be back. You better still be here or else. And don't even think of laying a hand on Dave while I'm gone or else you know who I will send after you."

Tessa pulled out her phone from the pocket of her capris and tapped it, making sure that her fingernail clicked against the screen threateningly, and shot 'Bro' a pointed look before she strolled to the door in a flurry and left the room, leaving a temporarily stunned 'Bro' and a half-afraid, half-amused Dave in her wake.

***Author's Note: This is a only a segment of the entirety of my story. I just wanted to put it out there to test the waters, in a way. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it, even if it does deviant somewhat from Homestuck.


End file.
